Outstanding works of Manavala Mamunigal

CHENNAI, NOV. 4. No one can deny the innumerable auspicious
qualities of the Supreme Lord, but what surprises a humble
devotee living in this world is the compassion He extends even to
an ordinary person like him and take him to His domain.

This is the essence of the outpourings of the Vaishnavite saints
who revelled themselves in extolling the manner in which the Lord
comes to their rescue. These divine personalities prayed that the
entire humanity should be happy and that a person should abjure
hatred and jealousy.

In the hierarchy of the illustrious leaders who propagated the
Emperumanar (Ramanuja) philosophy was Manavala Mamunigal (about
600 years ago) who is the manifestation of Ramanuja. The unique
privilege that he enjoyed was the command by the Lord to render
the exposition of the commentary to Nammazhwar's greatest
contribution in the Srirangam temple and He Himself, listening to
it for one year and later presenting Himself as a boy in the
gathering and conferring on him His grace by leaving a special
verse.

On the occasion of his birthday, in a discourse, Sri Kumaravadi
S. Ramanujachariar referred to one of Manavala Mamunigal's
brilliant works in the form of ``Andadi'' of 100 verses
condensing the entire Thiruvoimozhi. Other outstanding works by
the spiritual leader were the commentaries for three of the 18
contributions of Pillailokacharya.

In one of them, explaining the basic features of Visishtadwaita
he points out the three ``reals'' (sentient, non-sentient and the
Supreme) and the relationship between the Lord and the devotee.
As a mark of his deep reverence to Ramanuja, Mamunigal has left
the brilliant ``Yathiraja Vimsathi'' in Sanskrit asking men to
hold to his feet to secure liberation.

In his pilgrimage, the Acharya spent his days at Sriperumbudur,
Kanchipuram and Maduranthakam (the places connected with
Ramanuja's life). Sri Devaraja Mangalam is his tribute to Lord
Varadaraja. For the sake of offering service to the Supreme, he
took to asceticism. While contradicting some of the fallacies in
the opponent's views, he was never offensive but convinced them
through gentle and persuasive words.

Mamunigal in his task of spreading Ramanuja's ideals, appointed
eight distinguished disciples, three of them being Jeeyars. His
period witnessed a glorious chapter in Visishtadwaitha. While
4000 verses of Periavachan Pillai's commentary on Periyazhwar's
Thirumozhi were destroyed by white ants, Mamunigal filled them
with that of his.